Transcending Love
by NightlyStar
Summary: Haunted by her past relationship, Nanoha tried desperately to relieve herself from its shadows. When Fate, a woman who bared resemblance to her past love appeared, Nanoha found herself caught between the past and her current life.
1. Chapter 1

_Her breath tickled my skin teasingly as her soft lips graced my neck in gentle kisses. Her hands caressed my body tenderly, grazing down my sides to my thighs and in between. My breath hitched in my throat as her hand trailed to my most secret place and my body reacted to her touches and ached with a desperate need that I had never felt before._

_I held onto the sheets and let out a choked moan._

_Feeling her shift in position, my eyelids fluttered open to see her gazing at me with those haunting eyes of hers that always seemed to penetrate through my naked soul. I reached out my hand and touched her cheek. She closed her eyes momentarily before opening them again as she leaned against my palm. I closed the distance between us and locked our lips._

_I stroked her cheek as I broke the kiss gently. Staring into her eyes, I whispered my adoration for her._

"_I love you…"_

_Emotions unknown to me flashed through her crimson colored eyes. Turing her gaze away, she removed herself from me. Confusion filled my mind as I attempted to reach for her._

_But I never did manage to._

"_No." I heard her say. "You don't."_

I awoke to the blinding sunlight that shone through the windows. I lifted myself to a sitting position and wiped the beads of sweat from my forehead. Clutching my hand against my chest, I tried to ease away the ache in my heart as I recalled the dream that I had.

_When will I ever be free from you…?_

**Transcending Love**

-Chapter One-

I inhaled the aromatic smell of freshly brewed coffee and relaxed myself to the soft jazz that played in the background while people-watching the streets outside the local coffeehouse The Cafe. A vague reflection of myself with long chestnut hair and lavender colored eyes stared back at me as I gazed through the glass windows. I took a taste of coffee and swirled the drink inside my mouth, savoring it with my tongue before letting it flow down my throat.

I turned at the sound of a bell tingling and smiled when the person I was expecting came through the doorway with cheeks flushing from the still wintery air eminent outside. Standing from my seat, I raised an arm and called out. She turned toward my voice and when our eyes met she waved excitedly.

"Nanoha!"

I waited for her to reach my table before locking her in a hug.

"Shamal, it's been awhile."

Shamal Klarer-Wind was my senior back in college. Although we pursued different higher education after graduation, we continued to remain in contact. She was currently a well esteemed general practitioner and surgeon at Uminari Hospital. As for me, I managed my own bridal studio.

We pulled away from each other and I took in her features. She was the same as I last remembered. Short blond locks were trimmed just above the shoulders and cerulean colored eyes still held that familiar twinkle in them. Once we had settled down comfortably opposite of each other, I asked the question that was on my mind since I arrived.

"Is there something you wanted to talk about?" She had called at daybreak, requesting for a meeting as soon as possible.

Shamal blinked. "Ah, yes. Let me get to that."

She never had the chance though.

"May I take your order, Miss?" The waiter interrupted our conversation with his pencil, notepad and a smile. Shamal flipped through the menu and closed it shortly afterward.

"I'll just have a cup of coffee with milk."

I stared at the woman with surprise as the smiley waiter wrote down her order and left.

"As long as I remember you only take it black. Anything else you said they are diabetes catalysts."

"Once in a while is fine." Shamal hummed.

I was skeptical; this woman was not the normal Shamal that I know. "Alright, what is it?" I demanded and reached for my cup of coffee.

Shamal locked her fingers together, a habit of hers whenever she felt nervous. "Right, well, how should I put it…" There was a pause and with an exhale, she spoke again.

"Nanoha, I want to hire you as my wedding planner."

I gaped in the middle of sipping my coffee, the liquid threatening to drip from my opened mouth. Even though I had instantly closed my mouth and swallowed, still droplets of it managed to escape my lips.

"You're getting married?" I exclaimed behind my hand and a hastily grabbed piece of napkin.

"Yes!" Shamal squealed happily.

Emotions filled through me as I looked at her glowing face. I was happy, excited and yet upset at the same time. Even with our years of friendship, our frequent calls to each other and our occasional meetings, I was not in the know about her involvement in a relationship that had since advanced to marriage. Heck, I had not even met her soon-to-husband and now I was going to arrange her marriage to said man.

Shamal looked at me expectantly.

"Congratulations!" I said ecstatically.

"I would be blind not to notice how stiff your face is when you said that." Shamal frowned. "I know what you're thinking and I'm sorry for keeping it from you. It's just too difficult for me to tell you."

It was my turn to frown. "What is it that's so hard to just tell me that you're dating a man?"

Shamal sighed. "That's the problem."

What did she mean by that? I stared at her but my view was obscured momentarily by an arm belonging to a hand that was placing a cup of steaming milk coffee on the table.

"Enjoy your coffee." The smiley waiter from before said. He bowed and left promptly. I briefly noted how there always seemed to be interruptions at the crucial moments of our conversation. Casting the waiter aside, I voiced my thought. "What do you mean by that?"

Shamal heaved a heavy sigh and leant against her chair. "What I meant was…" She paused and fingered the silver ring that sat comfortably on her left ring finger. My eyes trailed the ring that I had not noticed before, ascertaining that it was her engagement ring. I brought my attention back to her when she spoke again. "You assumed the person I'm marrying is a man…" She looked at me with an even stare. "But in actual fact I'm marrying a woman."

My expression at the moment must have been ghastly because Shamal instantaneously reached across the table and held my hands with worry. "This is why I kept it from you. I know how much you detest homosexual relationships."

She was right. I hated the idea of same sex relationships; because it was wrong, because it was against Mother Nature, because it was a sin.

Because of _her_…

I willed the memories of the dream away and gazed back at the woman. "Then why do you still approach me?"

"You wouldn't believe how happy I was when the policy of gay marriages was approved," I felt the grip on my hands tightened as Shamal continued, "because my dream is to have my friend, to have you, to be the person who makes the most important day of my life to be the greatest in the world."

Her eyes were pleading and I did not have the heart to reject her. It would be unfair to have her dream crushed just because of my own selfish reasons. I relented and sighed. "Alright, I'll be your wedding planner."

A huge smile adorned her lips as she pulled us up the hands and embraced me across the table. "You don't know how much this means to me, Nanoha!"

Shamal would have had continued to hug me if not for her cellphone ringing. I was thankful for the interruption this time as it was getting embarrassing. She retrieved her cellphone from her bag and flipped it opened. She looked at the screen momentarily before turning back to me excitedly. "My fiancée is here!"

Incoherent words came out of my mouth in weird noises. It was not my intention to sound like that but I had not expected to meet the woman so soon. I heard the bell ring from the doorway and hastily rummaged through my bag for my compact makeup case for a quick spruce. Turning my back toward the entrance, I checked my makeup and reapplied some foundation.

Soft footsteps stopped behind me and short exchanges were made between Shamal and the newcomer. I immediately dropped the case into my bag and turned around to give my greetings. But no matter how hard I tried, the words never came.

The air around me felt as if it had thickened and I found myself in difficulty of breathing. As I stared directly into the very familiar looking face, the striking crimson eyes and golden locks of flowing long hair, memories of the dream came flooding into my mind against my will.

"_I love you…" _

"_No. You don't."_

I hazily heard Shamal's voice but I could not move my body or remove my eyes from the woman in front of me. She, too, stared back at me with an expression that seemed almost surprised. As I looked into the deep crimson orbs, snippets of memories from a different moment in time flashed through my mind.

_The hospital…_

_The beeping of the life support machine…_

_Her last words…_

I tried to block them out but they were relentless and invading.

_The rain…_

_The black umbrellas…_

_The cemetery…_

_Her burial…_

When I found my voice again the only words that came out was a name that had haunted me for years.

"_Alicia…"_

* * *

><p>AN: Hello to all who read chapter one of Transcending Love. This is my first story and I hope you guys had enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed myself writing it. Feel free to leave a review or comment about the first chapter and I hope to see you guys again in the next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

**Transcending Love  
><strong>- Chapter Two –

"Alicia…"

I must be hallucinating and that it just could not be true, because I was there with her when she took her last breath. I was there when she was lowered beneath the ground.

_I was there from the beginning until the very end._

I truly must be dreaming and all that that had happened; that I had experienced and gone through was just a delusion. I reached out my hand, wanting to touch her face, to feel her warmth, and partly to prove to myself that the person standing in front of me was real. My fingers had almost grazed her cheek when she spoke, stopping my notion of contact.

"I'm sorry but I'm not the person that you speak of." Her voice was of a deep and soft alto. There was an unmistakable tinge of stiffness in her tone and I quickly withdrew my hand. Ashamed of my actions, I lowered my gaze to my feet. I felt like laughing at myself for being foolish that I had almost wished for her to be the person from the past that I could never escape from.

"Are you alright?" Shamal asked, concern and worry evident in her voice.

"Y-yeah, I-I'm fine." I cringed at my own stammering and disbelief that a stranger could unnerve me so easily. Taking a deep breath, I willed myself to calm down and faced the blond newcomer once again. "I'm sorry I got carried away. You look like a person that I used to know."

The woman tilted her head slightly. "You must miss that person a lot. Is she…" I must be mistaken but her ruby coloured eyes seemed to hold a glint of knowing as she continued to speak, "Close to you?"

Her eyes held onto mine with indescribable intensity. I felt a sudden rush of overwhelming, uncanny familiarity from her entire being that I could no longer look at her in the face without envisioning her as the woman that haunted me through sleepless nights all over again. I shook the feelings off with a wave of my hand, "She was, but it's all in the past."

The blond haired woman hummed in reply and we both looked away to find other interesting things to stare at. The uncomfortable atmosphere was finally broken with a slight cough from Shamal.

"Well, that was awkward but I'm glad that it has passed." Shamal moved closer to the taller blond and locked arms with her. "I guess an introduction is in due," She placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. "This is Fate Harlaown, my fiancée."

Fate held out her hand toward me. "Nice to meet you."

I clasped my hand with hers and tried to ignore how soft her hand felt, how long her fingers were and how right it felt in my own. "Pleasure's all mine. I am the wedding planner that Shamal hired, Takamachi-"

"-Nanoha." Fate finished for me. I stared at her. She had said it with such casualness that I was beginning to question her identity; she knew who I was despite the fact that it was our initial meeting. I must have conveyed my thoughts through staring at her because Fate looked away almost immediately. "I've heard Shamal speak of you before."

The shorter blonde blinked. "I have? Because I don't seem to recall that I..."

"You did." It was a somewhat curt retort and Fate apologized at once for it. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it the way I did. Remember the time back at our dorm? You mentioned Nanoha during one of your sleepovers."

"_Our_ sleepovers," Shamal corrected with a pout. "Now that you mentioned it, I do remember myself talking about Nanoha one night. And you," She mock slapped Fate's arm, "You left me talking to myself halfway through. Until now you still haven't explained why you were upset all of a sudden that night."

Fate glanced at me briefly before looking away. "Well, that's history now. It's insignificant anyway." A light hue of pink graced her cheeks. She was obviously embarrassed for some reason and moved her fingers to pinch the bridge of her nose.

An image of a shy and nervous young golden haired girl doing the same action flashed through my mind. How two different people can look and have the same, similar actions when discomfited fascinated me. I was growing more and more curious about this woman named Fate Harlaown.

A buzzing sound brought me back from my reverie. "Sorry, it's mine," Fate said as she fished out a black and gold cell phone from the side pocket of her woollen trench coat. She flipped open the gadget and stared at the screen before turning back to Shamal and myself. "Please excuse me. I have to return to my office." She gave a quick kiss on Shamal's cheek and said, "I know I said that I could spend the rest of the day with you but I really have to go. It's urgent. I'll call you as soon as I'm done." She walked toward the entrance of the café as she answered the call. "Harlaown. Yes… Yes, I do have it in my office. It's in the…"

Shamal continued to look in Fate's direction until she was out of sight and sighed. "Well, that's Fate. Always busy. Everyone just seems to want a moment of her time. Such a workaholic, she is."

I shook my head at her comment and giggled. "That's something that you will have to get used to once you two tied the knots." I gestured to our forgotten cups of coffee. "Shall we? We do have been standing for quite some time. My legs are starting to complain, aren't yours?"

It was Shamal's turn to shake her head at me. "How out of shape you are. I'll have you know that in my line of work, the speed of how fast our legs can carry us is crucial to the lives of our patients. Do you need me to show you how toned my legs are?"

I raised both palms at her. "Spare me, please."

We laughed and returned back to our seats. I toyed with a few conversation points, which I realized that all of them involved Fate. More importantly, I wanted to know more about their history. I played with my teaspoon for a while before I spoke again. "So, how did you and Fate know each other?"

Shamal smiled, her face soft and gentle. "We met back in the University. She was a junior then, and we happened to be in the same class – drawing class. I noticed she was always alone, looking out the window with a wistful expression. I thought perhaps she was lonely and so I wanted to, you know, be her friend. One day, I finally brought out the courage to speak to her and our relationship just started from there. Like the typical friends to lovers kind of thing." She paused and stirred her cup of coffee. Then she sighed. "But she always seemed so distant. Sometimes I do wonder if she's troubled but by what I don't know. Until today, I still can't get her to open up." She stopped stirring her coffee and picked up the cup and took a sip. She put down her cup and stared out the window. "But I love her."

I could not think of any words to say after hearing what she had said, reason being that I felt a strong sense of melancholy from her. Perhaps things were not going as well as she wanted them to be. We spent the next few minutes in silence, just watching the people walking on the streets outside the window. Involuntarily, my mind began to wander back to the mysterious blonde. I would not deny the fact that the woman had piqued my interest. And after the conversation with Shamal, I wanted to know more about her - like what was on her mind all this while that even her soon to be spouse did not know about. Even though she strangely resembled Alicia, the fact that it was the first time we met still stands. So why do I feel that I had known her for a long time now?

_Fate Harlaown, just who are you?_

* * *

><p>Author's note: Thank you to the readers who had reviewed the first chapter. It's been a long time. I apologize for the wait. I hope you will still support this story. I will continue to do my best.<p> 


End file.
